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Street naming and numbering legislation

1. 1 The legislative position for street naming and numbering is complex, and various statutory provisions can apply. Under Schedule 14 of the Local Government Act 1972, paragraph 23, all provisions of the Public Health Acts 1875 to 1925 apply throughout England and Wales, subject to specified exceptions. The effect of this is that the legislation relating to numbering of houses is automatically applied.

1.2 However, paragraph 24 of Schedule 14 excludes from this automatic provision the legislation on street naming, the alteration of the name and marking of the name (i.e.. provision of street nameplates). It provides that where the relevant provisions apply in any area prior to 1 April 1974, those provisions will continue to apply.

1.3 Paragraph 25 of Schedule 14 then provides that for these street naming provisions, the Council has by resolution, resolved that the provisions shall apply throughout the area.

The relevant statutory provisions with regards to street naming are:

  1. Section 64 of the Town Improvement Clauses Act 1847 (incorporated into Section 160 of the Public Health Act 1875). This allows the Council to name streets (i.e. set names for the new streets), mark the street name (street nameplate provision) and control interference with such markings (under the legislation interference is a criminal offence).Section 81 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, Subsection (2) adds that a local authority within a district council in England may, by order, alter the name of a street, or any part of a street, in its area if the alteration has the necessary support.
    1. Section 81 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, Subsection (3), adds that 'where a local authority has altered the name of a street, or any part of a street, under subsection (2), it may cause the altered name to be painted or otherwise marked on a conspicuous part of any building or other erection.’ subsection (4) also adds that 'any person who then wilfully, and without the consent of the local authority, obliterates, defaces, obscures, removes or alters the altered name painted or otherwise marked under subsection (3) is liable to a penalty not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.
  2. Section 17-19 of the Public Health Act 1925. This legislation covers:
    1. new names of streets – notice served by developer and requiring the approval of the Council or (by appeal) the Magistrates’ Court (Section 17)
    2. The urban authority by order may assign a name to any street, or part of a street, to which a name has not been given. (Section 18).
    3. Marking of street names and control of interference – i.e. provision of street nameplates and prosecution of anyone removing or interfering with the nameplate (Section 19)

1.4 Section 18 of the Public Health Act 1925 enables an authority to alter the name of a street and to give a name to an un-named street (with the provision for an objector to require the decision to be considered and determined by the Magistrates’ Court. Although no consultation process is included in Section 18, officers would carry out a consultation in any event.

1.5 In terms of street numbering, these provisions are contained in Sections 64 and 65 of the Town Improvement Clauses Act 1847. These provisions allow the Council to designate numbers of individual houses in streets, ensure that all properties are properly marked with their number (or name), and control interference with such numbers. These provisions are automatically applied throughout England and Wales, via the Public Health Act 1875 and Schedule 14 of the Local Government Act 1972.

1.6 If Section 19 of the 1925 Act is adopted, the street naming provisions in the Town Improvement Clauses Act 1847 will cease to apply (and vice versa).

1.7 As well as simply determining the name or number to be allocated, the Council has (as part of dealing with these applications) carried out liaison services with other bodies. There is no statutory requirement for such liaison and consultation, but it is clearly related to the naming and numbering functions. As this is a discretionary service, a charge can be levied as set out in the Schedule of Charges on this website.

1.8 The Local Government Act 2003 brought about new devolved powers for Local Authorities. These included giving Council new powers to charge for non-statutory (i.e. discretionary) services (Section 93 of the Act).

1.9In 1994 a British Standard (BS7666 Spatial datasets for geographical referencing) was introduced. The standard comprises a number of parts covering Street Gazetteers, Land and Property Gazetteers and Delivery Points. BS7666 has been through a number of revisions with the last review taking place in 2005/2006. All addresses will be compliant with BS7666.

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